New hospital unlikely to have surgery requiring general anaesthetic

Construction work on the hospital, on the site of the existing Roodlands Hospital, in Haddington, is expected to get under way within the next 12 months.

The outline business case, seen as the next major milestone for the project, will be submitted to the Scottish Government for approval in July.

In the meantime, East Lothian MSP Iain Gray has vowed to keep fighting to ensure “more, not fewer” services are provided at the hospital.

That comes after NHS Lothian’s finance and resources committee took a decision on the range of surgical services in the new £72million hospital, which will not include an accident and emergency department.

A three-month review gave detailed consideration to the surgical services. It acknowledged NHS Lothian’s strategic plans to build acute inpatients services around their four major acute hospitals and the need to be able to safely support services across the region now and in the future.

The work recognised that there was significant potential for surgical diagnostics and treatment to be provided differently without the need for general anaesthetic at the new hospital.

It has therefore been agreed that the outline business case will not include general anaesthetic services and these facilities will be concentrated elsewhere.

Jim Crombie, chief officer, Acute Services, NHS Lothian, said: “There will be surgical services in the new hospital and demand for the type of procedures and treatments that will be carried out there is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

“This will mean that many more East Lothian residents will no longer have to travel for treatment.

“Around 2,500 residents who currently travel outwith East Lothian for endoscopy, minor surgery and day case procedures will benefit from new surgical diagnostics and treatment facilities that will be created as part of the new hospital.

“While we understand that some people will be unhappy by this decision, our long-term plans, developed with public involvement, are to have general anaesthetic procedures which may require an inpatient stay carried out on our four acute hospital sites.

“This will ensure greater safety and productivity, as these larger hospitals have the flexibility to manage day-to-day changes in demand and factors such as staff availability.”

The decision did not meet with the approval of the recently re-elected MSP.

Mr Gray said: “I had joined local staff in warning that some surgical services at the new community hospital were under threat.

“Well over a thousand local people backed my petition urging NHS Lothian not to cut these important services.

“I fed these local views into the NHS Lothian consultation, and was hopeful that they would listen to our concerns.

“Unfortunately, this announcement on future services demonstrates that the consultation was in fact a sham and NHS bosses intended to cut the services all along.

“Shamefully and cynically, they also held off making their announcement until just after the election.

“However, this fight is not over yet.

“The business case now has to go to Scottish Government ministers for their approval.

“As soon as the new health secretary is appointed I will raise the matter and urge them to instruct NHS Lothian to rethink its decision and provide more, not fewer, services at the new East Lothian Community Hospital.”

Meanwhile, the finance and resources committee also approved plans to install modular wards on the nearby Herdmanflat Hospital site, which will allow for the construction of the new hospital to start in early 2017.

The temporary wards will have room for up to 30 patients and are anticipated to be in place by November this year.

David Small, chief officer, East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “It means that we can temporarily move some patients off the Roodlands site in order for us to start work on the new hospital in the early part of next year.

“At the same time, 11 East Lothian patients who are currently being cared for in hospitals across Edinburgh and Midlothian will return to the county to be looked after closer to home.”